Now we are ignorant in these matters, but one thing or the
other must be true, either it is the fault of the Director
or of the Managers,<2> or of both of them. However it may
be, one shifts the blame upon the other, and between them
both every thing goes to ruin. Foreigners enjoy the country
and fare very well; they laugh at us too if we say anything;
they enjoy privileges and exemptions, which, if our
Netherlanders had enjoyed as they do, would without doubt,
next to the help of God, without which we are powerless,
have enabled our people to flourish as well or better than
they do; ergo, the Company or their officers have hitherto
been and are still the cause of its not faring better with
the country. On account of their cupidity and bad management
there is not hope, so long as the land is under their
government, that it will go on any better; but it will grow
worse. However, the right time to treat this subject has
not yet come.

<1> Persons who came to New Netherland, not as colonists
under the patroons, or as employees of the West India Company,
but on their own account.
<2> I.e., of the governor (director-general) of New Netherland
or of the directors of the company.


Of the Situation and Goodness of the Waters.

Having given an account of the situation of the country and
its boundaries, and having consequently spoken of the
location of the rivers, it will not be foreign to our purpose